Your sanitary sewer lateral connects your home’s wastewater (toilets, sinks, showers, laundry, floor drains) to the municipal public sanitary sewer main, which is usually located in the street. As a homeowner, it’s good to know that a lateral sewer repair—like a roof, garage, or a driveway—is the responsibility of the homeowner.
What exactly is a Private Sewer Lateral?
The pipe that links your home’s plumbing to the municipal sanitary sewage line, which is normally placed under the street in front of your property, is known as a private sewer lateral (PSL). This vital conduit transports wastewater— including everything that goes down the sink or toilet—from your home to the public sewer. Sewage is then delivered to a wastewater treatment plant.
Private sewer laterals are made up of two main components:
- The upper sewer lateral is the part of pipe closest to the house, comprising the space between the building cleanout and the sidewalk.
- The lower sewer lateral – The piece of pipe closer to the street, encompassing the region from the sidewalk’s curb cleanout to the public sewage main.
Clogs in main sewer lines are even more dangerous. Your home is connected to the municipal sewer system by a sewer lateral connection. Unlike tiny blockages caused by hair and body oils, soap scum, and fats, oils, and grease (FOG) in drains, a main sewage line clog can be caused by a variety of factors, including tree roots in drains.
What Are Some Common Private Sewer Lateral Issues?
The state of your private sewage lateral influences where your wastewater goes, as well as whether groundwater or rain runoff enters the sewer lateral pipe.
Cracks or obstructions in the pipe are common causes of failure. Sewer lateral failures are commonly caused by the following factors:
- Natural erosion caused by wastewater
- Corrosion, calcification, and scale accumulation in pipes
- Soil movement
- Invasion of tree roots
A sewer lateral grows more prone to fracture as it ages. The typical lifespan of a private sewer lateral is highly dependent on the material used to build the line.
The most prevalent type of pipe seen in lateral sewer repairs in older homes in Toronto is clay, which has a limited lifespan. Because clay becomes brittle over time, the ancient hub and spigot joints might collapse, leading the pipeline to shatter. Older clay laterals were often laid in two-foot pieces and feature joints that are either not sealed or have failed long ago.
Although clay pipe material is incredibly resilient over time, the pipes are subject to fractures and damage that eventually lead to collapse. The most typical source of injury is tree roots.
Modern lateral sewers are composed of PVC, a high-strength, somewhat flexible material. When installed properly, PVC pipes for residential laterals are normally sold in 10-foot pieces and feature long-lasting, water-tight connections.
Another material, high-density polyethylene (HDPE), is now commonly utilised in the industry due to its durability, affordability, ease of maintenance, and 100+ years of service life. If your property still uses older materials, it might be a good idea to have your sewer lateral replaced with HDPE.
Pipeline maintenance reduces the need for lateral sewer repair
If you need to have a contractor clean and remove roots out of your lateral on a regular basis, you should have your lateral video examined every year in spring. If you’ve never seen the inside of your lateral, a video sewer inspection can provide you with some much-needed peace of mind. If the lateral is in good shape, there is no need to examine it again until spring.
Common issues caused by a damaged private sewer lateral:
- Back-ups inside the sewers
- Soil and local watershed contamination due to sewage leaking
- Excess wastewater pollutes nearby bodies of water.
- Raw sewage overflow induced by water penetration and root growth
When your municipality inspects the sewer laterals for widespread issues, they frequently employ an ecologically friendly green dye that soaks into the earth. When the camera detects green water in the lateral, they know the pipe is leaking. When you call Hoerner to do a lateral sewer repair, they may detect leaks through the green dye or through a video drain inspection.
Benefits of lateral sewer repair
Other than determining whether or not there was root intrusion, video inspection of sewage pipes may be employed for a variety of purposes:
- Your wedding band was flushed down the drain, and you’re looking for it.
- You want to find out what is causing a clog.
- You want to check the condition of your pipes
And a lot more.
A high-resolution video camera is linked to a fibre optic connection to send photos to our cutting-edge sewage drain video inspection equipment. Professional drain specialists check, diagnose, and repair cracked, broken, and collapsed drains. Having established the problem, they will recommend the most cost-effective lateral sewer repair remedies.
We promise that we will do the work on schedule and correctly the first time. Let us assist you today. When you need lateral sewer repair, don’t hesitate to call Hoerner.